


Meet Me Back at the Start

by somedilemma



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Amnesia, Claustrophobia, Gen, Manipulation, Memory Loss, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Self-Indulgent, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Toby Smith | Tubbo Has PTSD, TommyInnit Has PTSD (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit Swears (Video Blogging RPF), Traumatized Toby Smith | Tubbo, Traumatized Tommyinnit (Video Blogging RPF), Video Game Mechanics, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), why is that not a tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29120025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somedilemma/pseuds/somedilemma
Summary: It feels like when Tommy was struck by lightning on the second doomsday — out of the blue, surprising, and oh so painful. He didn’t lose a life to it because there was no intent behind it — no one wanted him to die, it was just a stray bolt. Then, he cursed his luck — there was such a low chance of getting struck by lightning, and somehow he’d managed it. Now, however, he embraces the electric feeling burning just under his skin. Feeling this pain is easier than feeling the pain of Tubbo’s death.And then,TommyInnit ceases to exist.
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 210
Kudos: 981





	1. Say Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Tubbo say goodbye to each other, and then say goodbye to their timelines.

“It’s Tubbo’s time to go.”

Tears pricked at the corners of his ears as his heart tried to leap out of his chest. He clutched the green bandana normally wrapped around his neck, trying to ignore how his hands trembled.

“Tubbo’s a pawn.”

Tommy heard Tubbo mutter under his breath, “I’m not a pawn...”

“Tubbo’s a pawn,” Dream repeated, voice firmer. “He’s — it’s — just... say your goodbyes.”

Tommy’s eyes widened, a quick, shaky “what the fuck?” tearing itself from his throat. He couldn’t comprehend the thought of Tubbo _dying_ — it was always supposed to be Tommy and Tubbo against the world, until the end of time, so the thought of Tubbo’s death baffled him. He _knew_ Tubbo would die eventually — everything and everyone would — but _now_? Tubbo had turned 17 a month ago, and there was still so much they could do. The two of them hadn’t even turned 18.

The thought of Tubbo dying shook Tommy to his core.

“I’m gonna walk over here,” Dream steps back, tone casual, not noticing (or not caring?) Tommy’s internal dilemma. “You guys can walk over there a little bit. Say your goodbyes.” Dream’s voice held no room for argument, the air of finality clear.

Tommy walks over to Tubbo feeling like he’s in an odd fever dream, heart pounding as fast as a hummingbird. He grips Tubbo’s shoulders — more to ground himself than for the older boy. “He’s _not_ gonna kill you. He’s not gonna _fucking_ kill you.”

Both boys knew this was a lie, but Tommy felt that if he said it with enough conviction, he could will it into existence.

“He needs me — you’ve seen him deceive everyone, Tubbo, you know he’s not gonna kill us.” The taller boy’s words slur as they come out rushed and fast. They _had_ to be true, Tubbo _couldn’t_ die. “I’ll tell you what we do, we make a break for the portal, we can run all the way back to mine, you know, because I have the secret portal-” Tommy takes a deep breath in. He knows he’s rambling, that what he’s saying barely makes sense, but he can’t let Tubbo die, “at the exile base, if we run-”

“No, we will be dead before we get to the portal.” Tubbo’s normally bright eyes are dull, his tone is airy and light, unlike how Tommy’s ever seen or heard him before. “Too much of a distance.”

They make eye contact, and Tubbo’s serene expression almost makes the tears in Tommy’s eyes overflow.

“It’s alright. We had some laughs, it was — it was — it was fun while it lasted, but-”

Tommy can’t be as calm and accepting as Tubbo is. That’s why they’re always together, they’re two sides of the same coin. Where one is abrasive and unapologetic, the other is calm and empathetic, the roles depending on the situation.

“Why have you just accepted it?” Tommy’s voice sounds on the verge of tears while tears threaten to overflow, and Tubbo’s eyes meet his, surprised. He’s never heard or seen Tommy look or sound like this. “Don’t just _accept_ it, now-”

“We’ve been backed into a corner-”

“Don’t just accept it, we — Tubbo, we never accept defeat, alright?-”

“We are literally at y-level 5-”

“We never do.”

“There is nowhere to go under, we have no blocks-”

“We — well we never — we don’t-

“There is nowhere to go above. We will be dead before we get to the portal-”

“We _don’t_ accept this shit, man-”

“We can’t go that way, we don’t have pickaxes. Eh, it’s fine — oh...” Tubbo watches the lift they took in go back up. “And, yeah, that was the only other option, I... yeah, it’s over.”

The two teenagers — because that’s what they are, despite all the wars and fighting and trauma — are silent for a moment. The older chooses not to comment on the taller’s shaking clenched fists.

“We had some laughs. It was fun... you know, all good things must come to an end eventually, I just didn’t think that this would be my... coming to an end, if you will.” Tubbo notices Dream inching closer to the pair, probably to claim his final life. “Well, I mean-”

“What am I without you?”

Tubbo blinks at this. His best friend, usually so loud and bright and _Tommy_ , looks back at him desperately, begging him to answer the uncharacteristically soft-spoken question.

“Yourself?” Tubbo phrases this like a question as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

At this, Tommy lets his tears flow freely.

Another silent spell befalls them. Both boys know that their time together is coming to an end. Tommy lets out a shaky exhale as they stare into each other’s eyes for what will be the final time.

“So, you really — are you accepting this? Are you okay...” Tommy trails off before he can finish his question.

“Yeah, it’s... it’s alright.” Tommy can’t for the life of him understand why _Tubbo_ , the one whose life is on the line, is trying to comfort him. “It’s alright, hey-”

“Are you gonna be alright?” They both know he doesn’t mean physically.

“We’ve said our goodbyes, already, at the start. Who knows what happens when I’m dead.”

“Yeah, but that was, we were _optimistic_ , you _know_ that we were optimistic.” They both know what Tommy means. Neither could know that Tubbo would lose his final life. “This isn’t, this isn’t what...” Tommy’s voice fails him. Even after all the bloodshed and violence and Wilbur’s _death_ , Tommy can’t bear to lose another person.

“Well, you know, you get backed into a corner, this is... he described me as a pawn?” Tubbo looked to Tommy, knowing that despite knowing the younger didn’t know how to play chess, the analogy wouldn’t be wasted on him. “This is checkmate. This is it, this is the end. I suggest you resign.”

Tommy’s tears flow impossibly harder. He grabs Tubbo’s sleeve as he attempts to walk away.

“Tubbo,” Tommy says, his voice low. “Even though, for this entire server, I’ve always regarded you as... as my sidekick, really Tubbo, I was your sidekick.” Tommy’s eyes are so full of emotion that Tubbo fears that they’ll burst. “Please don’t go,” he pleads. He knows it won’t change anything as he pulls Tubbo in for a hug, resting his head on the shorter’s shoulder.

Tubbo breaks the hug. “It’s fine,” he says, beginning to walk over to Dream, his soon to be killer with no hesitation or fear. “It’s about time anyway.”

Tommy’s breath quickens. “No, no _no-”_

“It’s about time.” Tubbo’s voice is final. They know this is the end.

“Say goodbye,” ~~Dream~~ Tubbo’s executioner says.

“Goodbye, Tommy,” Tubbo says, a bright smile on his face. It reminds Tommy of before all the wars and pain and death.

Tommy mirrors it, hoping to make it so that Tubbo’s last sight before death is of him happy, despite the tears still running down his cheeks. His voice quivers, though less than he expected. “Goodbye, Tubbo.”

Tubbo turns his back, fully facing Dream. Tommy stands just a few feet away yet so incredibly helpless. He can’t move. He can’t breathe. He can only watch as Tubbo, his best friend, his other half, dies.

There are tears, there is screaming. Tommy distantly realizes that they both come from him, but it is easy to ignore both of them in favour of the pain.

It feels like when Tommy was struck by lightning on the second doomsday — out of the blue, surprising, and oh so painful. He didn’t lose a life to it because there was no intent behind it — no one wanted him to die, it was just a stray bolt. Then, he cursed his luck — there was such a low chance of getting struck by lightning, and somehow he’d managed it. Now, however, he embraces the electric feeling burning just under his skin. Feeling this pain is easier than feeling the pain of Tubbo’s death.

And then,

TommyInnit ceases to exist.

* * * * *

Dream watches in sick satisfaction as his axe slices through Tubbo_’s throat and the boy turns into white smoke. He watches as a scream tears itself out of Tommy’s throat as he scrambles towards the smoke — Tubbo_’s remains. He waits for TommyInnit’s incessant crying to cease, turning his back to give the boy a semblance of privacy. He turns back around when TommyInnit’s screams renew, this time in pain. He watches as something blue travels beneath TommyInnit’s skin, as _lightning_ crackles around his body and in the air, burning him when he attempts to get close.

Dream watches as, just as suddenly as it started, it stops.

The lightning disappears, and it takes TommyInnit with it.


	2. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Tubbo find familiar places, and see some familiar faces.

TommyInnit knows he ceased to exist.

Tubbo_ knows he died.

At that moment, however, neither care, as they are pulled together into a hug by an unknown force like magnets.

They are silent.

Tubbo is the one to break it. “How...?”

Tommy has the same question, shaking his head into Tubbo’s shoulders. He knows the older can feel it.

Tommy pulls himself out of the hug, looking — really looking — at Tubbo. “You’re alive.”

Tubbo laughs. It sounds slightly hysterical, which is understandable given the situation. “I noticed that, thank you.”

Tommy gives him a light punch in the arm (“you fucking dick”), though he laughs as well.

Tommy looks around. The pair are in a forest, and though every tree looks the same, it feels impossibly familiar. “Where the fuck are we?”

Tubbo shrugs, still a bit frazzled from his “death”. “I dunno. Somewhere?”

Tommy shook his head, standing and extending his hand to help Tubbo stand up. “That’s really fucking helpful, dickhead.”

“You asked!”

“It was a fucking rhetorical question!”

They continue wandering through the forest like this, their voices rising as they banter and bicker. The pair don’t pay much attention to their surroundings until they nearly bump into-

No. It can’t be.

The Camarvan stands in front of the two of them in pristine condition. It looks just as they’ve remembered it.

It looks like it did when Wilbur had first built it.

They stare, eyes blown open and jaws dropped. Tentatively, Tommy lays his hand on the wall, as if needing further confirmation that it was real. His hand finds the button to open the iron door instinctually. It swings open, its hinges groaning.

They step inside, breaths held. There are 4 brewing stands, 2 on each side of the room. They can see a double chest peeking out from the backroom.

Tommy’s eyes find Tubbo’s, knowing that he’s thinking the same thing — how is this back?

* * * * *

WilburSoot leads TommyInnit to his caravan, excitedly telling him about Breaking Bad as he struggles under the weight of “stolen” brewing stands and potions.

Are they really stolen if they all know it’s a joke?

He’s excited. He’d taken a bit of a break from Servers after saying his goodbye to SMPLive, though he is grateful to see a familiar face from SMPEarth.

When Wilbur opens the door, he sees two strangers standing in the “drug” room. They jump when the iron door opens and closes.

“Who the fuck are you two shitheads?” Tommy asks behind him, abrasive and loud as always. In spite of himself, the corners of Wilbur’s lips twitch upwards, and he draws some confidence from the teenager behind him.

“Yeah, what the fuck are you doing in here?”

The two strangers are dressed familiarly — a green shirt (presumably a button-up one) with the sleeves rolled up, and a red and white shirt (though under a trenchcoat). One was blond with a small ponytail and the other was brunet.

Tommy and Tubbo? But that was physically impossible, Tommy was standing behind him and they’d just robbed Tubbo. Besides, they were taller, with longer hair, and the blond had a brown trenchcoat over his shirt (the real TommyInnit would never cover his iconic red and white shirt). The brunet has a red bandana on his wrist, and the blond has a green one wrapped around his neck.

The two intruders turned around. Their faces were pale, blood drained from them as if they were they were the ones seeing something impossible.

The blond stranger wearing the face of TommyInnit whispers (and that’s how WilburSoot knows that he’s an imposter because TommyInnit never whispers), “Wilbur?”

* * * * *

TommyInnit and Tubbo_ watch WilburSoot (a dead man) drop the contents of his hands onto the floor. They make a loud crashing sound that makes both Tommy and Tubbo flinch.

The fake TommyInnit behind WilburSoot is speechless (and that’s how Tubbo_ knows that he’s an imposter because TommyInnit is never speechless), his jaw hanging open.

Tommy and Tubbo’s eyes meet, having a silent conversation. Tommy and Tubbo communicating without words wasn’t rare, but they became more common and filled with emotion after L’manburg’s war for independence — when simply communicating with words felt like a battle.

It’s then they realize they have nothing. No weapons to defend themselves if Wilbur and fake Tommy attack them. Tubbo knows that Tommy wants to fight with one glance into his eyes, but he wants to talk this out to see what these imposters want. Tommy reluctantly nods, and they turn their attention back to the two in front of them.

Tubbo opens his mouth, ready to be peaceful and diplomatic — he knows that this is a situation that requires calm, especially when he and Tommy are at a disadvantage. His attempts at peace are cut off by the real Tommy.

“Why the fuck are you pretending to be me and Wilbur?”

Tubbo gapes at his best friend (though it’s times like these that make him reconsider).

The fake Tommy splutters. “What the fuck do you mean? Why the fuck are you two pretending to be me and Tubbo?”

The initially serious atmosphere melts away as the real and fake TommyInnit began yelling at each other.

“Alright, alright! This isn’t getting anywhere,” Tubbo steps in, knowing that this was just escalating the situation. “Why don’t we just calmly-” he sends a glare at the real Tommy, “talk about why you two are impersonating Tommy and Wilbur.”

Fake Tommy opens his mouth (probably to start yelling again) but is quickly shushed by Fake Wilbur.

“But... you guys are the impersonators,” Fake Wilbur sounded confused. “Your name tags are all... weird and stuff.”

The pair look at each other, discovering that it was true — above Tommy’s head, instead of ‘TommyInnit’, it read ‘T𝙹ᒲᒲ||iリリ╎t’, while it read ‘T⚍ʖʖ𝙹_’ instead of ‘Tubbo_’ above Tubbo’s. Tommy breathes out a small, almost inaudible, “what the fuck?”

Tubbo thinks it through — after all, while Tommy is (usually) hotheaded, Tubbo (usually) has to be the one to keep a level head. He closes his eyes, taking in the information, trying to understand what happened.

Tubbo_ died. TommyInnit — what did he do? His body was surrounded by lightning and he ceased to exist. (Tubbo doesn’t know how he witnessed that, seeing as he had died.) They woke up in a forest (which Tubbo knew shouldn’t be there — Sapnap burned it down just before the Revolution) and approached Wilbur’s caravan (which also shouldn’t be there; it had been blown up twice during both doomsdays). They saw Wilbur and Tommy (who were probably imposters, seeing as one was dead and the other was standing beside him). Their names were written in the enchanting table language instead of English. What did this mean?

Tubbo gasped, opening his eyes and ignoring the strange looks he got from Wilbur and younger Tommy. When he makes eye contact with his Tommy, he knows they’ve come to the same conclusion, but voices it out loud anyway.  
“We’re from the future,” he breathes. It sounds impossible — it should be impossible — but here they were.

He gains strange looks from everyone present in the caravan.

“Oh,” his Tommy mutters, “I was gonna say that this was just a really intense shared fever dream.”

Tubbo laughs.


	3. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions are asked, answers are given.

WilburSoot cannot believe what he just heard — apparently he was meant to believe that TommyInnit and Tubbo_ had travelled from the future?

He’s about to press for more details when the blond behind him (situations like these make him wonder why he voluntarily hangs out with his pseudo-younger brother) asks, “You’re really from the future?”

The fake — er, the Future Tommy tilts his head, thinking. “Well, it makes more sense than my theory. I mean, he,” He tilts his head toward the past version of him, “is a little bitchboy-” at this, the younger Tommy squawks indignantly, “and Wilbur-”

The older Tommy cuts himself off, staring at Wilbur with an odd look in his eye. Wilbur almost misses Future Tubbo’s hand slipping into his friend’s. They squeeze each other’s hands. Another silent conversation passes between the two without a word.

The younger Tommy sees this too. He awkwardly shifts his weight, trying to dispel the awkward atmosphere. “Well, if you’re me and Tubbo, what would we call you? It’d get really fucking confusing since you have the same name.”

Before either the older Tubbo or Tommy can speak, Wilbur cuts in. “Wait, how do we know you’re not fucking lying? We just found you in my van and you start claiming that you’re from the future?”

Tubbo nods, understanding — time travel was a pretty insane claim, and he wouldn’t believe it to be possible if he hadn’t met Karl Jacobs, who collected stories from different timelines and came back to tell them.

“We can prove it by telling you things only we would know?” Future Tubbo suggests. At this, Wilbur nods.

“Well, I mean, I don’t really know you that well, Wilbur, but I met Tommy when we bumped into each other in a Hypixel lobby — he was just leaving a bedwars game and I was just entering.” Future Tubbo had a nostalgic smile on his face, reminiscing on old times. “We exchanged communicator codes, played in Hypixel, Skyblock, and private servers, and just became friends.”

“I met Wilbur during SMPEarth. I joined one of the calls you were in and we just started talking to each other. Oh,” Tommy’s face contorts into one of mock disgust. “I was so quiet and polite and such a pussy, and you didn’t call me a child every 5 seconds. God, was that really only a fucking year ago?”

Tubbo giggles. “You sound like an old man.”

“Shut the fuck up, Tubbo. I’m — I’m a perfect age, and you’re just jealous that you’ve turned 17 and can’t say that anymore.”

“Sure.”

Wilbur looked at the two of them. The scene was so similar, so familiar, yet not.

Tommy — younger Tommy, that is — looked even more out of place and uncomfortable than Wilbur did. He clears his throat awkwardly. “So, uh, what are we gonna call you bitches?”

The future pair blink. “Well,” Future Tubbo says slowly. “You can call me... Toby? I don’t really mind not being called Tubbo.”

Wilbur nods — name tags, most of the time, weren’t the same as a real name. He knows this — Wilbur Soot isn’t particularly close to his real name, though he felt more comfortable using his name tag. Names could hold a lot of power.

“You can call me... Theo.” Wilbur does a double-take at this. He expected something like Toms or Thomas, but Theo? A glance to his side shows that Tommy is just as confused about the name as he is.

“Tommy...” Future Tubbo — or, Toby, as Wilbur would have to get used to calling him, said. “Is Theo short for...?”

 ~~Tommy and Tubbo~~ Theo and Toby share an indecipherable look. “Are you sure?” Toby asks. Theo nods.

“Yeah,” Theo says. “The name doesn’t really mean anything. Not anymore.”

Toby shakily exhales. “Alright.”

Another uncomfortable moment of silence befalls the van. Wilbur tentatively breaks it. “What is Theo short for?”

Theo and Toby share a look. Theo gives a small shake of the head, and Toby nods. “Nothing,” Theo says. “The name doesn’t mean shit.”

It’s obvious that it’s a lie. No one comments on it.

Tommy clears his throat. The more they talk, the tenser the air gets. “How did you guys time travel? _Why_ did you guys time travel?”

“I..." Toby furrows his brows. “I’m not sure how. And there isn’t really a why.”

Theo scoffs. “We kind of fucking know how — I did it. And you know why, Tubbo — Toby.” He corrects himself.

Toby sighs. “I know. But I don’t really want to think about why, you know?”

Theo nods. “I do.”

WilburSoot, once again, feels like he’s missing something. He feels like he’s intruding on something private or secret, seeing as how neither Theo nor Toby will look at him.

Suddenly, Theo gasps. “Isn’t the one fucking rule of time travel is not telling anyone we’ve fucking time travelled? Oh shit, Karl Jacobs was talking about how fragile timelines are and shit. Oh my fucking god, Tub — Toby,” he grabs his best friend by the shoulders. “Is this server gonna implode?”

WilburSoot and TommyInnit pale considerably, but ~~Tubbo_~~ Toby_ smacks his friend in the arm. “Don’t be stupid! You’re gonna freak them-” he points to Wilbur and Tommy, “out! And you know he meant that time is gonna change!”

 ~~TommyInnit~~ TheoInnit grins, laughing his laugh that sounds more like he’s an old man asphyxiating. “Yeah, but it was fucking funny!”

TommyInnit finds his voice. “That’s not fucking funny — you just told us we would die! The entire server would be gone!”

At this, the grin slides off of Theo’s face. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

WilburSoot feels confused. TommyInnit, apologizing? What happened in the future? He was tempted to ask, but it was obvious that it was painful. Wilbur realizes that almost every time he’s contributed to the conversation, the atmosphere gets tenser.

“Your name tags changed!” He points out, hoping this doesn’t lead to a traumatic memory for the time travellers.

They confirm it with a glance above each other’s head. Above Theo’s head is ‘TheoInnit’, while above Toby’s is ‘Toby_’.

“Huh,” Theo says. “Cool.”

“But why’d it change?” Wilbur pressed. “How’d it change?”

Toby was quick to answer. “The game’s code can’t have two players with the same name, which was why ours weren’t written in English before. But since we renamed ourselves, we got new name tags.”

Wilbur nods — Toby’s explanation makes sense.

“But how’d it change?” Ask Theo and Tommy at the same time. They glare at each other.

Theo continues, “Can’t only Dream do that, since he’s the admin?”

Toby shakes his head. “He transferred his admin powers to an alt account — DreamXD — so he’s just a normal player like the rest of us. I don’t think even an admin can change a player’s name tag, so it was probably the game itself — technically, we’re glitches, so it ‘fixed’ them.”

“Since we’re ‘glitches’,” Theo says, “maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone else we’re here.”

Tommy opens his mouth when the iron door of the Camarvan swings open.

Revealing Tubbo, Fundy, and Sapnap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: this fic is semi-inspired by Rewind by Anonymous. you can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28238295


	4. Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confusing situation, with the anomalies responsible for it hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// description of a panic attack, mention of past manipulation, mention of claustrophobia  
> the warnings above starts after sapnap says 'dream will take care of them' and ends when it says 'the conversation, tommy thinks...' so skip if you'd prefer not to read it.

“Tommy!” Tubbo calls. Theo and Toby dive into the storage room before he can see them. Tubbo stepped into the Camarvan, followed by Fundy and Sapnap.

“Did you see the two people who joined the server? Their names are written in enchanting table!” The younger brunet held up his communicator, showing the chat logs.

**_‘T𝙹ᒲᒲ||iリリ╎t has joined the game.’_ **

**_‘T⚍ʖʖ𝙹_ has joined the game.’_ **

Under it were messages from the other players expressing their confusion. Tubbo pulled the communicator away before Wilbur or Tommy could read them.

Sapnap speaks up. “Dream says that he didn’t whitelist them and doesn’t know who they are, so they might be hackers.”

“Or maybe they’re glitches?” Fundy suggests. “We checked around the spawn area and there was no one there.”

The three who just entered the Camarvan didn’t notice WilburSoot and TommyInnit exchanging glances.

“I think they’re players,” Tubbo says. “I checked the player list earlier and they were there, but their faces were all glitched.”

“Really?” Wilbur asks in mock surprise. He’s a good actor, Tommy finds. “Hold on, let me see.”

Wilbur pulls out his communicator, pulling up the server list. He relaxes a little when he finds that what Tubbo says is true — their names and faces are glitched.

Tommy, Wilbur finds, is an extraordinary actor. “Holy _shit_ , that’s weird. Where the fuck do you think they could have gone?”

Wilbur can barely restrain himself from gaping at the blond at his side — he never expected the boy to be a good actor.

Sapnap shrugs. “We’re not sure. Fundy’s convinced that they’re glitches-”

“Because this is a private server! No one can enter unless Dream whitelisted them!”

“-but we think it's just a hacker messing around. Dream, Punz, and Purpled are looking around for them.”

“But how would they find them?” Tubbo asks. “We have no idea where they could be if they weren’t at spawn.”

Sapnap shakes his head. “It’s only been a few minutes, they couldn’t have gotten far. Dream will find them.”

In the storage room in the back of the Camarvan, Theo has a breakdown.

* * * * *

‘ _Dream will find them_.’ Logically (though he isn’t a very logical person), Theo knows that Dream won’t hurt them. Right now, Dream is a completely different person than he will be in the future. This Dream was one he laughed and joked with, the one he’d built Church Prime with. This Dream is not the one who manipulated him into believing that he was his only friend, or isolated him, or killed Tubbo.

 _But they’re the same person_ , says a traitorous voice in the back of his head, and this alone is enough to make him hyperventilate.

The walls start to close in. The storage room is incredibly small (it is a storage room, after all), and the double chests filling it don’t help.

Tommy has claustrophobia. _Theo_ has claustrophobia.

Tubbo knows this. _Toby_ knows this.

Toby is forced to watch as Theo’s electric blue eyes glaze over and his breath quickens. Theo grips the front of his shirt as tears bead in the corners of his eyes.

Toby holds both of Theo’s shoulders — it’s pretty awkward due to the height difference and the small amount of space they have to work with.

“Tommy,” Toby whispers, cringing. He can hear the younger versions of himself, Theo, Wilbur, Fundy, and Sapnap talking. He hopes the group’s conversation covers his speaking.

“Tommy, you’re okay. Tommy, breathe.”

Theo shakes his head.

“It’s okay, Tommy. You’re in the Camarvan. You’re with Tubbo. Uh — Wilbur and Fundy are right outside the door, and they’re just talking. Everything is alright. All you have to do is take a deep breath in-” Toby takes an exaggerated breath in. “-and out.” Toby exhales exaggeratedly.

They repeat this process for what feels like far too long to both of them but is just a few minutes. When Theo’s calmed down, his hands refuse to stop trembling and he’s gained a slight sheen of sweat.

Theo meets Toby’s eyes, and they have a silent conversation between each other.

_Are you okay?_

_Kind of._

Toby squeezes Theo’s hand. _It’ll be okay._

_I fucking know, you clingy bitch._

I’m _the clingy one?_

They share a smile.

* * * * *

The conversation, Tommy thinks, is going pretty well, seeing as he and Wilbur are doing a good job pretending that they don’t know about Theo and Toby’s existence.

It goes downhill fairly quickly.

“Can I have some steak?” Tubbo asks.

Tommy sees Wilbur pale — all the chests are in the storage room where the time travellers are hiding.

“What, you don’t have any food?” Tommy chuckles nervously. “Are you poor or something?”

Tubbo rolls his eyes, clearly too hungry to take the bait. He turns to Wilbur. “Do you have any food?”

Wilbur babbles, nervous. “Uh — no, no, I don’t think I have any food.” He fiddles with the cuffs of his sleeves. Thankfully, it goes unnoticed by Tubbo, Fundy, and Sapnap.

“Sorry, I don’t have any food,” Fundy says.

Sapnap shakes his head. “I just ate my last piece of steak. Sorry, man.”

Tubbo sighs. “That’s unfortunate.” He turns to Wilbur and Tommy. “Do you maybe have any in one of the chests in the storage room?”

Though Tommy can read Tubbo better than anyone else, the sheer look of panic is evident in Wilbur’s eyes with a single glance. “I — I’ll go check.” Tommy cringes at Wilbur’s stammer — he was usually so confident in his words that any hesitation sounded off.

Tubbo — who, unfortunately, was extremely kind — waves him off. “It’s fine. I can go check. It’s just a bit of food.”

If they weren’t in this situation, Tommy would laugh at the look on Wilbur’s face — he was so clearly panicked but was forced to restrain himself so he didn’t look like he was hiding something in the storage room (which he was).

Tommy attempts to draw the attention back to himself — maybe the time travellers can get away if he gives them a bit more time. “Yeah Wilbur,” he says, “it’s just a bit of food. Tubbo’s only starving a little bit, so let him rummage through the back by himself.”

Wilbur stares at him with a betrayed look on his face. Thankfully, though, Tubbo stops to laugh.

“Yeah, Wilbur,” the brunet chuckles, “let the dying man do the manual labour by himself."

“Alright, fine,” Wilbur says, an anxious, shaky laugh. He had to trust Tommy with this. He raises his voice a bit, so it can be heard in the back. “I’ll simply watch the starving boy as he searches for food through my chests full of garbage, as anyone else would.”

Tubbo nods sagely. “Yes, as any other person in your place would do.”

* * * * *

“I’ll simply watch the starving boy as he searches for food through my chests full of garbage, as anyone else would.”

This is the clearest part of the conversation that Theo and Toby can hear, as the group is standing towards the front of the Camarvan while the latter are crammed into the back.

The pair’s eyes widened — Wilbur had basically just given them a warning that someone was coming. But what were they going to do?

Toby closes his eyes, trying to think of how they could escape this.

He clenches his fist. The only exit is through the caravan’s front door, which is clearly not an option. If only they had _any_ tool — with a pickaxe, they could probably mine out and then cover the block without anyone seeing them. This is terrible.

Clearly, Theo feels this way as well, but Toby is too focused on the smell of ozone and the crackle of lightning to fully focus on his friend’s feelings.

 _“Tommy!”_ He hisses. The last time this happened, they time travelled.

Theo seems unaware of this, eyes shut and breathing heavily. Toby panics. If they travel again, then they’ll go back to before the server was created, and where would they be?

“Tommy, we’re gonna time travel again!”

Theo’s eyes snap open, and Toby is nearly taken aback by the message he receives.

 _Trust me,_ Theo’s eyes say.

Toby nods.

A crackle of lightning and Theo and Toby are gone, leaving behind only the strong smell of ozone.

And then,

TheoInnit and Toby_ cease to exist.

* * * * *

Tommy holds his breath, hoping that the pair from the future managed to escape. He holds his breath, hoping that Tubbo doesn’t discover them in the storage room. He nearly misses a strange smell entering his nose.

Tubbo doesn’t. “Ugh, Wilbur,” he groans, “your garbage chests smell weird.”

Wilbur takes a second to respond, clearly expecting Theo and Toby to still be there. “Well, I told you they were garbage chests,” he smiles, relieved, “I don’t know what you expected from them.”

A gasp from Fundy draws their attention to him. He’s looking at his communicator. “It says the glitches made an achievement!”

Sapnap looks curious. “What achievement?”

“‘Is It Time?’” Fundy reads. “The achievement explanation says ‘discover that now isn’t the time’.”

Tubbo looks at his communicator, confirming this is true. “Woah,” he says. “What does that even mean? I’ve never heard of that achievement.”

Wilbur shrugs, genuinely intrigued. “I don’t think that’s an achievement you can get.”

“What do you think the hackers are doing?” Tommy asks. He’s uncharacteristically quiet, but they’re too focused on the strange achievement to notice.

“I dunno,” Sapnap says, turning to leave. “I think I’m gonna help Dream and the others try to find the players who are behind this.”

Fundy nods, walking toward the door as well. “I think I’m gonna head out as well. See you guys around.”

This leaves Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur in the caravan to awkwardly stare at each other.

“I have to talk to Wilbur about something,” Tommy says, quick to eliminate the silence. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

Tubbo nods, looking between the two of them as if to see what changed between now and when they robbed him. “Alright, see you later Tommy! Bye, Wilbur!”

When the iron door clicks shut, Wilbur and Tommy stare at each other. Tommy chuckles a bit hysterically. “Holy shit,” he mutters. “ _Holy shit!_ ” he says louder. He looks at Wilbur. “We just met Tubbo and I. From the _future._ Holy _shit._ ”

“I heard you the first time, child. I can’t _believe_ that you and Tubbo of all fucking people time travel.”

“Holy _shit_ , Wilbur.”

Wilbur looks at Tommy strangely. “Are you okay?”

Tommy nods. “Holy shit,” he repeats, this time just to annoy Wilbur.

They’re silent before Wilbur comes to a realization. “The fucking drugs despawned! _Fuck_ , we robbed people for nothing!”

Tommy’s wheezing laugh is able to be heard outside the Camarvan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you skipped reading the panic attack, just know that Theo had one at the mention of Dream.  
>   
> fun fact: i've written every chapter so far during school. i shouldn't be doing this. (which is also why i havent planned anything out and the next chapter will be 'a dreamer's interlude)  
>   
> another fun fact: im writing this in british english because i like 'disc' better than 'disk', but i just realized i don't think ill ever need to write the word 'disc'. now im writing in british english just to be consistent (and cause i like it better than american english).


	5. A Dreamer’s Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream is a dreamer. Unfortunately for him, this isn't a daydream.

Dream has not always been Dream.

He was not always someone obsessed with two vinyls that he could easily obtain copies of.

He was not always someone who waged wars over small jokes.

He was not always someone who fought children.

He was not always someone who killed children.

But he was always a dreamer.

A daydreamer, more specifically.

He knows that this isn’t one of his daydreams.

* * * * *

Punz walked through the nether portal, followed by almost every other person on the server. He opens his mouth to give his dramatic one-liner (“I’m sorry Dream. You should’ve paid me more”), when the scene in front of him gave him pause.

Dream was on his knees, forehead pressed on the floor of his secret base and clutching his left hand close to his heart as if hurt. There was a small cloud of smoke — Punz recognizes it as the smoke a player leaves behind after they die, which tightens his grip on his axe and trident. Dream killed them; they were both on their last lives, and they wouldn’t come back.

Awesamdude, the first person to follow Punz, notices this too. Unlike Punz, who desperately wants to though, he also notices how little smoke there is — way too small for two people.

Which means, Sam realizes, eyes widening, that only one of them is dead.

The question is, he thinks, the crowd closing in on the self-proclaimed god, which one?

* * * * *

Dreams can feel their silent, judging presence.

That’s alright, he thinks. Let them judge.

He knows what he did was what was right for the SMP.

Captain Puffy hauls him up, holding his collar with the blade of her axe to his throat. “What did you do to them?” she growls.

Dream gives a wobbly, insane smile. “You know what I did,” he says, tilting his head toward the smoke. “I killed Tubbo.”

There’s a beat. Looks of horror fall upon people’s faces (especially Sapnap, who can’t believe that his former best friend killed a child). Everyone present notices that he didn’t mention Tommy.

“And Tommy?” Sam asks. He hopes the boy is safe and managed to escape.

Dream shrugs. “I dunno,” he says, nonchalant. “He’s gone.”

Punz’s eyes widened in horror at the vague sentence. “What do you mean, gone?”

“I mean he disappeared,” Dream says. “There was a bit of lightning, and then he went ‘poof’. I couldn’t even do anything, it burned my hand.”

A quick glance at his left hand shows that he’s telling the truth. A burn unlike anything they’ve ever seen is present on his hand and arm, stopping just above the elbow.

There’s a moment of silence to digest what Dream said.

Quackity is the one who breaks it. Despite being in only a pair of diamond boots (he has proper armour in his inventory, he just thought it’d be funny to Tommy and Tubbo if he saved them in his “yeezys”), the teenager punches Dream in the jaw.

“What the fuck do you mean he’s gone!” He shouts. Puffy had let go of Dream in surprise, and the man clutches his cheek in shock. “What the fuck kinda bullshit is that! Where the fuck did you take him?”

Dream clenches his fist, clearly holding himself back from attacking Quackity due to the crowd of fully armoured people surrounding him. “I didn’t do anything. It’s not my fault he’s missing, he just — he was surrounded by lighting and when it disappeared, so did he.”

Puffy considers this. Assuming Dream was a good liar (which he was, according to the stories she’s heard), his story would probably be more plausible than “he disappeared with some lightning”.

Lightning... Puffy recalls seeing a message on her communicator about Tommy being struck by lightning on doomsday — er, the second doomsday. Puffy wasn’t present for the first one. Maybe...

“What if he’s glitched?” Puffy asked, not noticing that she’d spoken out loud until everyone’s attention was turned to her.

“What?” Punz asked.

“Dream talked about lightning, right? Tommy was struck by lightning after L’manburg blew up, so maybe he glitched after he respawned.”

The group considered this, silent.

* * * * *

Niki has been silent, lurking in the background. She avoids Jack Manifold’s attempts to make eye contact, feeling guilty. She’d plotted to kill Tommy — a child, Tubbo’s best friend. Sure, he was volatile and abrasive and loud, but did that really warrant killing him?

What if he’d glitched out of existence?

She stews in her guilt.

* * * * *

Ranboo shifts his weight from foot to foot. He has a terrible memory, but he knows that he won’t forget this anytime soon.

He knows that those around him were focusing on Tommy’s whereabouts so they wouldn’t have to dwell on Tubbo’s death.

And while, yes, he is concerned about Tommy’s whereabouts...

Tubbo’s dead.

For once wishes he could forget.

* * * * *

Eret breaks the silence, nodding slightly in agreement with Puffy. “I suppose it makes sense; the server itself is glitched, so maybe it could happen to a player.”

Puffy and Ranboo are shocked. The server was glitched — was that even possible? Before they could say anything, Quackity interjects.

“That’s bullshit and you know it! Dream’s the admin, so he could just bring them back!”

Quackity steps towards Dream (presumably to punch him again) when Sam grabs his shoulder to stop him, simply shaking his head dejectedly.

“He transferred his admin powers to his alt account,” Sam explains. His usually even voice wavers. “So there’s nothing he can do.”

All present are silent.

Not for long, though, as Dream begins laughing maniacally.

“Are you gonna kill me?” He asks, a cruel smile on his lips. “It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t anyway. Tommy’s gone.”

Eret’s brows furrow at the implications of that statement. “What were you going to do with Tommy?”

Dream chuckles a bit. “He inspires people,” he says, in lieu of an answer. “He spreads attachment to the SMP.”

“What were you going to do, Dream?” Sam echoes Eret’s question.

“Pandora’s Vault is supposed to be inescapable, isn’t it, Sam?” Dream ignores the question.

Not liking where this is going, Sam hesitantly nods.

“That’s why I paid you so much for it. I didn’t always know who I would lock up in the prison at first. Maybe Technoblade? He’s probably the only person who can defeat me. But he causes so much anarchy and chaos. Maybe just anyone who opposed me. But I know now that I need Tommy alive. Without him and his stupid obsession with these discs, people wouldn’t be so attached to their possessions.”

Dream sounds unhinged, smiling despite the dark words spilling from his mouth that send shivers up the spines of all present.

* * * * *

Sapnap is disturbed. Is this one of his best friends, someone who would kill one child with no remorse and wanted to lock up the other? He knew that Dream had been acting a little after the L’manburg revolution, but he can’t believe it took Dream saying that he didn’t care for anything besides Tommy’s discs for him to consider that something was wrong with Dream and it took George getting dethroned for him to realize what was right in front of his face.

Was the masked madman in front of him truly Dream, or a husk of his friend with a sole objective?

Sapnap grits his teeth, clenching his hands so his fingernails drive crescents into his palms. “You’re insane.”

Dream hums. “Maybe.”

They stare at each other, smug green eyes meeting disgusted brown ones. Of course, Sapnap can’t see Dream’s eyes behind his eerie, childishly drawn smiley face mask.

Sam sighs. There’s only one thing to do. He points his sword at Dream. “Take off your armour,” he says. “You’re going to Pandora’s Vault.”

* * * * *

This is a weird dream, Dream thinks. After all, it has to be a dream. Everything he’s worked for, foiled by two teenagers who weren’t even there — one dead, the other disappeared.

This has to be a dream, he thinks, because what else would it be? He, Sapnap and George aren’t acting like friends. Actually, no one’s acting like his friend.

They were all friends... right?

Tommy was his friend. They founded Church Prime together, laughing together for the entire time.

Where was Tommy?

Tommy’s usually with his best friend Tubbo, so Tommy is probably where Tubbo is.

Tubbo is his friend, too.

Where’s Tubbo?

Dream wishes he could wake from this strange dream. If only he wasn’t a daydreamer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: this was published at school  
> also, i wonder what this 'server glitch' they're talking about is? :)  
> anyway, these 'interludes' are going to be more frequent than normal interludes — so i guess they're not really interludes.


	6. Start Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The anomalies find themselves in a familiar situation.

Suddenly, TheoInnit and Toby_ exist.

Despite this being their second time... re-existing... it is just as disorienting.

Like the first time, neither dwells on this, though. Theo focuses on slowing his racing heart while Toby attempts to gain his bearings.

They’re just outside the caravan. The pale moonlight is the only thing (besides haphazardly placed torches) that provide light.

Theo stands on unsteady feet, legs shaking like a newborn deer. Bile rises in his throat, but he shoves it down, if only to reassure Toby.

Theo looks to Toby, who somehow looks worse to him despite physically being alright. The blond opens his mouth to ask if the brunet he’s alright but his throat refuses to comply, leaving him open-mouthed.

Toby looks to him in confusion. “Tommy...?”

Theo gives a weak (not very) reassuring smile, summoning his communicator. Confused, Toby does so too.

A moment later, Toby’s communicator pings. He glances at a message from ‘T⍑ᒷ𝙹iリリ╎ℸ ̣’, who, judging by his vague knowledge of the enchantment table language, is Theo.

‘ **_T⍑ᒷ𝙹iリリ╎t whispers to you: Are you okay?’_ **

The ‘yes’ on the tip of Toby’s tongue dies in his throat. It would be so easy to just brush it off.

But _is_ he okay?

 _No,_ Toby realizes. _He isn’t._

Before he realizes it, he’s clutching Theo in his arms, silent tears slipping down his face as they sink to their knees. He’s not okay. He just _died_ . ~~Toby~~ Tubbo _died_ , and now he’s _back_ with ~~Theo~~ Tommy, and he _isn’t_ okay.

Sobs rip out his throat, not of his own will. He doesn’t care enough to stop them.

They sit just outside the caravan for just over seven minutes, when Toby’s tears subside (but don’t stop) enough for him to speak.

“Are _you_ okay, Tommy?” Toby can’t control how his voice warbles, shaky.

It’s then he realizes that Theo’s been silently sobbing into his shoulder. Theo shakes his head, refusing to make eye contact.

After another six minutes of Toby and Theo unsuccessfully attempting to stifle their tears, Theo stands, offering one hand to Toby while wiping his tears with the other. Toby takes it.

They stand around for a bit, neither meeting the other’s eyes until Theo says, resigned (and slightly annoyed), “we don’t have any shit.”

Toby turns to him curiously, waiting for Theo to elaborate. Thankfully, he does. “We’re in the past, so all the shit we grinded for fuking _hours_ to get — our netherite armour and tools! — is gone.”

Toby gasps. He hadn’t even thought of that. “Of, for _fuck’s_ sake! All of my mending books! My cool vault in Snowchester!” Toby whips his head to him. “ _Snowchester_ ! Our _houses!_ Where are we going to live?”

Theo drags his hands down his face. “We’ve gotta start all _over_ again! _And_ we can’t get any help! For fuck’s sake, this is shit!”

For some reason, though, they both have dumb grins on their faces — probably because of how normal it felt. Hitting rock bottom and being forced to work their way back up, _together_ , was a familiar situation to them.

“Uggh,” Toby groaned. “We’re gonna have to build a house, and it's gonna be ugly because _you’re_ gonna help build it.”

Theo whipped around, failing to appear angry due to the smile on his face and the playful light in his eyes. “What the fuck does _that_ mean, dickhead?”

Toby pretended to wail. “You’re gonna build it out of _dirt_ or _cobblestone_. I don’t want to live in a dirt or cobble house!”

Theo crossed his arms. “Excuse _you_ , _dickhead,_ cobblestone is a great block!”

“It’s _ugly_!”

Theo sniffed dramatically. “I can’t believe Tubbo’s bullying me. ‘Cobblestone is ugly,’” he mocks, raising his voice’s pitch in an attempt to imitate Toby. “How could you say this, Tubbo, I’m _sensitive._ ”

Toby sighed, though he had a wide grin on his face. When was the last time when they could joke around like this without fear?

He missed this.

* * * * *

By the time the sun rose, the two decided (after lots of bantering and bickering) to live in the Pogtopia ravine. It was less than 10 minutes away from the Camarvan (where L’manburg would be) and it was hidden, so no one would stumble across it.

They’d found Pogtopia with relative ease — after living in the ravine for weeks, it was easy to locate where the ‘entrance’ (the two dirt blocks on the side of the mountain) was. They had to dig out the entrance and down to the ravine again, though, which took them a bit — they had to use stone tools until they found iron.

When they exit the ravine to get more wood, seeds, and water to start a farm (and set up a bath), they realize (after a quick glance at the sun’s position) that it was almost 10 — way past when Theo usually woke.

“We should probably build a clock,” Toby suggests after Theo groans about his ruined sleep schedule, “so we can tell time without having to leave the ravine.”

Theo opts to ignore him, instead groaning loudly and rummaging in the grass for some seeds. “I’ll never sleep properly _again_ , Tubbo,” he whines. “I’ll be like Gogy himself, never to be found. I’ll sleep through everything important, Tubbo, and then everyone will forget about me. Oh, Tubbo, my brand is completely ruined. I’ll become irrelevant to -”

Theo’s rant is cut off by their communicators vibrating. Theo stands, wiping his dirty hands off on the legs of his pants. In the corner of his eye, he sees Toby storing his axe and collected wood in his inventory.

**_‘Dream: Everyone meet at the community house.’_ **

Both boys are barely able to calm their racing hearts.

* * * * *

Tubbo_ wakes to a message from Dream.

He also wakes with a terrible headache, but this isn’t obvious until he stands too fast.

Tubbo has a terrible sleep schedule. He knows this, he’s accepted this. He’s honestly surprised that he woke up this early; it felt like there was something urgent, something that was drawing him away.

Tubbo ignores this feeling, sitting up from his bed and slipping on his socks and shoes.

Why does he feel like such _shit_ ? His head is _pounding._

Maybe it's that weird dream he had last night, but try as he might, he couldn't recall it.

When Tubbo reaches the brick community house with crafting tables for a floor, everyone else from the server is there. He doesn’t think he’s seen everyone on the server together at once.

He stands next to Tommy and Wilbur, murmuring a barely coherent “good morning” and wincing when the older brunet repeats it back to him.

“That’s everyone, right?” Dream asks, his eyes scanning the crowd from behind his crudely drawn smiley-face mask. He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Alright, so does anyone know anything about the hackers? The ones who joined yesterday? We’re not _sure_ they’re players — Fundy thinks they’re glitches — but I’m pretty sure they are.”

Everyone is silent, a few shaking their heads. Tubbo waits, half-expecting Tommy to interject with something to say, but the younger blond is silent.

“ _No one_ knows who they are?” Dream’s eyes roam over the crowd, lingering on Fundy and Tommy for a bit longer than he did for anyone else.

It’s an awkward, suffocating silence; though most find it uncomfortable, Tubbo is glad — the sounds of talking are worsening his headache.

Sapnap sighs. “Maybe they _are_ glitches, Dream. We didn’t see them at spawn, and we’ve gone thousands of blocks looking for them. If they were players, I don’t think they’d be able to get away that fast.”

Goosebumps flare on Tubbo’s arms, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. He feels that pull he felt when he woke up, but it’s more intense.

He also feels like he’s being watched.

When he whips around to look at the window, however, there is no one there.

“Can’t you just kick them?” George suggests with a yawn. Tubbo doesn’t notice Tommy stiffening beside him.

Dream shakes his head. “I’ve tried that with my alt account, but banning or kicking them from the server does nothing.”

Eret shrugs. “Is there really anything we can do? If we can’t remove them and we can’t find them, what are we meant to do?”

“Maybe they’ll leave,” Wilbur suggests, “they’ll have to get bored eventually.”

Dream shrugs. “I hope so. I mean, who knows what they could do if they could get on without being whitelisted?”

* * * * *

“Why are we _here,”_ Toby hisses to the boy by his side. Both are invisible (and will be for another three and a half minutes) and are peering into the community house through a window.

“So we can see what they’re talking about,” Theo replies.

“But _why?”_

Toby can’t see Theo roll his eyes, but he can practically feel it. “Aren’t you curious? A server-wide meeting has never been called. What do you think they could be talking about?”

“They’re talking about _us!_ ” Toby says. “If our presence is the only thing that’s changed so far and we haven’t done anything, they have to be talking about us!”

Theo blinks. “Oh,” he says. “That makes sense.”

Then he thinks it through again. “Wait — this is before the Revolution — why didn’t Dream just ban us from the server?”

That’s a good point. If Dream still has access to his alt account, they shouldn’t still be there — especially if they thought the two of them were hackers.

Still, Toby counters it. “Because we’re glitches! We’ve time travelled and shit, so Dream probably can’t properly ban our accounts.”

They’re silent for a moment. “We’ve come here for nothing.”

“ _Yeah,_ who would’ve guessed?”

“I’m sorry that I’m not as good a time traveller as you are, Tubbo.”

“Whatever,” Toby sighs. “Let’s just go before someone sees us.”

They break the blocks they were standing on to look out of the window as quietly and quickly as they can. They’re about to return to Pogtopia when the door opens and the other players flood out.

Toby panics, cursing their shit luck. His and Theo’s invisibility was going to run out in 45 seconds.

Toby feels a hand jerk him into the freezing water that surrounded the community house, barely holding back a yelp. He _knows_ it was their only escape route, but that didn’t make the water any warmer.

They swim to land just in time for Theo to throw another splash potion of invisibility on the two of them.

* * * * *

When they make it back to Pogtopia, Theo and Toby are cold and shivering, their wet clothes clinging uncomfortably to their bodies.

“Sorry,” Theo whispers. Toby’s noticed that he’s apologized more after his exile.

Toby shakes his head, his teeth clattering against each other almost painfully, “It’s fine.”

They enter the ravine in silence. It’s only broken after Toby peels off his wet shirt.

“Tommy!” He cries, sounding alarmed. Theo comes racing at the sound of his voice, seemingly ready to fight. He stares at Toby.

“What?” he asks. He sounds annoyed but is obviously relieved that Toby’s okay.

His eyes widen when Toby spins around.

Revealing Toby’s unscarred, unblemished chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uggh i h a t e the sentence 'toby's unscarred, unblemished chest', but i dunno how else i could phrase that sentance.  
>   
> fun fact: i hate this chapter which is why it took more than two days (it was supposed to published yesterday but hw and stuff delayed it)  
>   
> also: there are three people on the dsmp with memory problems: the amnesiac half enderman, the forgetful time traveller, and the ghost who's repressed the negative emotions of his past. i can't decide which to do an interlude on for the 8th or 9th chapter, so which would you like to hear from?


	7. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two anomalies take a look at their scars while a brunet teenager with a terrible headache tries to find them.

Scars are a weird thing on the Dream SMP.

They appear when you die a permanent death, and they’re glowing white instead of their skin tone.

Both Toby and Theo have died two permanent deaths. Theo was slashed in the back by Dream’s axe after Eret’s betrayal and shot in the heart during his duel. Toby was slashed in the back by Sapnap in the Final Control Room and was publically executed by Technoblade’s fireworks during the Red Festival.

Scars are permanent on the Dream SMP. Permanent reminders of how one died.

But for whatever reason, Theo and Toby’s scars were missing.

“What the _shit,_ ” Theo hisses, tearing his gaze from Toby’s chest to his heart. Missing were the scars from the fireworks and the arrow.

They both whip around at the same time. “Can you check-” they both start.

“You go first,” Theo says.

“Can you check if I still have the scar from... the Final Control Room?”

Theo swallows. _The Final Control Room_... even after all this time, the title still makes him shiver. “Yeah.”

They both confirm that their scars from literally being stabbed in the back have disappeared.

“Holy shit,” Theo whispers, running a hand through his blond hair. He pauses when Toby gives him a strange look. “What?”

Toby doesn’t meet his eyes, instead focusing on his hair. It wasn’t as obvious when they were outside with the direct sunlight on it. “Tommy,” he says slowly.

It stresses Theo out. He chuckles nervously, bringing his hand up to his bangs. “What?”

Slowly, Toby grabs Theo’s wrist, bringing his hand down from his hair. “You had a streak of white after you were struck by lightning, right?”

How could Theo forget the Doomsday lightning strike? What could be the most _painful_ experience of his life? Despite this, he chuckles. “What, is my cool streak of lightning-hair gone?”

Toby doesn’t smile — his lips don’t even twitch. His brows were slightly furrowed as if thinking. “No,” he says slowly. “The streak of white is still there.”

* * * * *

Weird stuff happened all the time on the Dream SMP. After all, the server _itself_ was glitched. They all had an explanation, though.

Scars disappearing? Toby reasoned that it was because they were in the past, before they’d sustained the injuries or lost their lives.

Permanent deaths in the server? It was obvious that the server was glitched.

But there were some mysteries that didn’t seem to have a clear answer, like how Philza only had one life. That, of course, could probably be from the amounts of time he dedicates to Hardcore, though by that logic, so should Technoblade (‘ _Technoblade never dies’_ ) and Dream (after all his manhunts). Everyone else would have infinite, and Wilbur would be unable to die (after all of his time playing God in his 100 player challenges).

Toby knows that has an answer. But Theo’s lightning strike _doesn’t_.

Why did it leave a permanent mark if it wasn’t a permanent death? Why was it still here if the rest of the scars disappeared? Why did the lightning allow them to _time travel_?

This has no logical explanation.

While this bothers Toby, it doesn’t bother Theo.

“Oh,” he sighs, relieved. “Then what’s the issue?”

Toby can’t fathom how Theo isn’t freaking out, why he’s not curious as to what makes the lightning strike special.

“All of our other scars disappeared, but your streak from the lightning hasn’t? Aren’t you curious why it’s still there? Aren’t you curious why it even _exists_ in the first place?”

Theo shrugs. “What will knowing about it do? It won’t change anything.”

Toby sighs. He knows his best friend is stubborn, so he won’t be able to change his mind.

Before he can say anything, however, they hear steps coming from the stairs.

* * * * *

Tubbo, despite having a horrible headache, could clearly see the signs of an invisible person spying on the community house.

Tubbo was the first to exit and felt someone brush against him. If this was the only sign, he may have brushed it off as his imagination.

(He didn’t see a familiar invisible blond teenager wince.)

Tubbo heard a splash of water, unusual ripples appearing. That was what made it obvious.

(He didn’t see a brunet in a now-wet green shirt shiver.)

When the ripples cease at the riverbank, Tubbo is positive he’s spotted the hackers. It’s further confirmed when, after a pause, a few branches bend backwards as if someone was trying to walk past them.

Of course, he follows them into the forest. It was hard, seeing as they were invisible and silent, and he had to stay far back to ensure that they wouldn’t spot him.

He would have lost him if he didn’t notice two dirt blocks surrounded by grass ones. After Tubbo broke them to reveal a double chest, a bed, and a staircase, he summoned his communicator, sending a whisper to Dream.

**_‘You whisper to Dream: I found the hackers.’_ **

Tubbo sent the coordinates and Dream said that he’d get there as soon as possible.

Against his better judgement (and genuine curiosity; what could really go wrong? He could always respawn, and he didn’t have anything besides a sword, food, and some blocks on him), Tubbo goes down the stairs.

* * * * *

Theo whips around, drawing his iron sword from his hotbar and seeing Toby do the same. He curses; they didn’t have enough iron to craft more than a pair of swords and picks.

Most of the server has already gained diamond armour, he recalls, so even with his and Toby’s great PvP skills (that only improve when they fight an opponent together), they’d probably lose.

Theo shivers. _Especially_ if it was Dream. He was amazing at PvP — he’d _barely_ lost in his one v. one duel with Technoblade (‘ _6-4? Against the_ Blood God _?’_ Theo remembers thinking.)

He also doesn’t think that he’d be able to handle looking at the poorly drawn smiley face mask that felt strangely sinister because of how it blankly stared into your soul-

_No. Stop thinking about that._

Theo tightens his grip on his sword handle, preparing himself for a fight, when a face that was far too familiar greets him. _Shit,_ he thinks, _of all people…_

_*_ _*_ _*_ _*_ _*_

Tubbo stared, wide-eyed, at the faces of himself and his best friend. He nearly drops his sword.

This _has_ to be a joke.

It’s not very funny, considering the identity theft.

A glance at the nametags shows that it isn’t a joke. Sure, they _are_ supposedly hackers, but it doesn’t make sense. ‘TheoInnit’? ‘Toby_’?

Sure, it could be a play on his and Tommy’s names, but... 

No one on this server (besides Tommy, of course) knows his real name. It’s not a big secret, he just hasn’t told anyone. How would these two random players know?

“Don’t freak out,” the one with his face says. “We’re from the future.”

The one with Tommy’s face sighs. “Tubbo! We’re not supposed to tell anyone!”

In all honesty, Tubbo thinks things could be weirder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> karl's interlude (bc thats what was requested by the majority) will be next chapter (bci start the next chapter before i post one)
> 
> also i wonder why tubbo's got a headache? maybe its the time travel, maybe its something completely different that you are unaware of (maybe its something im not aware of bc this has not been planned out at all) :)
> 
> also 2: electric boogaloo updates may come slower because the hyperfixation is wearing off (this is why i can never finish anything...) and im kinda tempted to start another fic (probably a one-shot bc ill never finish that either)


	8. A Time Traveller's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karl Jacobs is an anomaly. His existence is not the only weird thing about the server.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karl's interlude! I hope it meets your expectations
> 
> (also im really bad at not writing dialogue so it's not as good as i'd like it to be.)

Karl Jacobs is an anomaly. He’s not like any other player he’s ever met.

Well, he thought he was normal before he joined the Dream SMP.

He spawned in with a journal. Though it was strange, something told him not to say anything to anyone.

Even stranger, the journal was already named. ‘Tales from the SMP’ was printed on the spine and cover. On the front was a symbol — purple with a green spiral, just like his hoodie. He kept it on him at all times, making sure not to die so no one would be able to see it.

Karl had avoided opening the book, unsure of its consequences, but eventually decided to open it.

He was immediately swallowed by a purple portal with a green swirl as soon as he opened the book and read aloud the title of the first chapter: ‘The Village That Went Mad’.

Karl was transported to ‘Not A Very Good Town’ — a town with eight occupants that apparently existed hundreds of years before the Dream SMP was created. He only had the book, a quill, a pair of green-tinted goggles, a pocket watch, and what seemed to be a lab coat with colours that matched his hoodie.

He was, essentially, a narrator to the story — he wrote everything down in the journal and couldn’t really influence the characters’ (because were they really players?) actions.

When Karl wrote the words ‘The End’ after the story (which was essentially a real-life version of Town of Salem or Mafia), he was sucked back through the portal to his home, seemingly around an hour after he’d left. He found that his memory had been a bit spotty after returning.

A week later, he opened the book for the second time, travelling to what was supposed to be the future. This time, though, Karl was a character — a fisherman named Isaac. Something told him not to break character and play along.

He and his fellow three fishermen meet ‘Ranbob’ — a player who looked like Ranboo but with yellow and purple eyes instead of green and red ones, and claimed to be related to him. Karl ignored his immediate urge to question it.

He and the other fishermen explore the underwater city of Mizu with Ranbob occasionally commenting on the rooms they found.

It was a cool ocean-exploration showing how history could be mixed up in the future. That is, until Ranbob killed him and Charles (the only two remaining characters).

When he ended up in the present after dying, he found that his memory was even fuzzier the first time. It was clear that it wasn't a coincidence.

He began his diary to retain his memories; he didn’t want to forget anything. Sure he could stop time travelling but...

actually, he wasn’t sure he could stop.

Yes, time travelling was fun, and yes, he only did it when he wanted to, but...

it felt like it wasn’t a choice anymore.

It felt like there was a tugging in his chest drawing him to the cover of the book, like a puppeteer dragging a marionette.

* * * * *

It was Quackity who told him that Tubbo was dead and Tommy was missing, presumed dead.

Karl gasped, not in surprise or shock, but in confusion. The books _clearly_ said that they weren’t meant to die yet...

Karl has found that people’s lives and stories are like books. On this server, Tommy was the hero, the protagonist, the main character.

He didn’t know, of course. If he did, his head may get too big.

Real-life didn’t have plot armour. Tommy would, eventually, die.

But, as Dream had said so eloquently during Tommy’s second exile, “it is not his time to die.”

Karl knows this. He also knows it’s not Tubbo’s time to die.

He leaves Quackity as quickly as he can without seeming insincere, leaving Quackity to grieve. He heads to his new library (that needed to be relocated after Doomsday) and pulls out a book. It’s untitled, the only mark being a ‘2’ on its spine, but he knows what it’s about.

He flips towards the back of the book, but he knows it’ll never run out of pages. He doesn’t understand the enchantments, but he doesn’t care to find out.

The final page is blank.

Karl gasps, turning back a page. Where was ‘The End' that signalled that the story was over?

He scanned the page. Tommy and Tubbo preparing for the confrontation. Tommy and Tubbo saying their goodbyes. Tommy and Tubbo trying to find where Dream had said to meet them.

Tommy and Tubbo fighting Dream.

Tommy and Tubbo losing.

Tommy and Tubbo-

nothing.

It ended.

Karl was ready to accept what seemed like the obvious truth — Tommy and Tubbo were dead — when he noticed a new book on the shelf.

He furrows his brows. That wasn’t there before.

When he opens the book — also without a title — there is wet ink that doesn’t bleed.

There is a ‘3’ on the spine.

Karl could cry. _Book Three_ , he thinks. The story continues.

It’s only the first two chapters written (it takes a while for the story to catch up to reality), and the first one is ominously titled “Say Goodbye”.

Karl reads it. Tommy and Tubbo say goodbye (so the ominous chapter title isn’t inaccurate).

Dream kills Tubbo.

Tommy ‘ceases to exist’.

 _What does that mean_? Karl wonders.

The second chapter has Tommy and Tubbo... back in time? They meet a younger version of Tommy and Wilbur and Tubbo realized that they’ve time travelled.

Karl puts the book down. At least they’re okay, but how would they get back?

Karl reshelves the book, knowing what he has to do. It’s about time he answered the tugging in his chest anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: i like arguing with people over stupid things. not actual arguments. id join a debate team, but they scare me.
> 
> heres an argument starter for the techno stans:
> 
> technoblade says that tommy betrayed him. this isn't true, but i can see where he's coming from.
> 
> the entire time tommy stays with techno, techno makes it clear that this is temporary and that they were working together to get techno's weapons back (which they did). techno didnt fufill his side of the deal (get back the discs), so *technically* hes more of a traitor (not really, but moreso than tommy).
> 
> techno *feels* betrayed, which is a completely different thing from actually being betrayed. maybe he thought he and tommy could be friends? but since hes such a tsundere, going 'its a mutually benefical deal' (which tommy didnt benefit from), tommy probably thought he was telling the truth and left. technically, technos in tommys debt (equivalent exchange and all that), seeing as he didnt help tommy at all (besides the weapons, armour, turtle shell helmet... food... gapples... potions... a home... ill stop talking now)
> 
> yeah, techno would have been willing to fight like 30 people for tommy, but the point is that tommy said 'wow i think im becoming a shit person' and didnt stop technoblade from leaving. the agreement was really in techno's favour.
> 
> however, tommy probably shouldnt have left so abruptly. techno could have gotten killed by... all the people around them, but i mean i see him and tubbo as platonic soulmates. he sees the hurt in tubbos eyes after saying 'the discs were worth more that you ever were' and immediately says 'wow so im a piece of shit now, innit?'
> 
> please, argue - i mean, *debate* with me. i like seeing other peoples opinions and ive never really shared my opinion on this (mainly because no one knows i watch mcyt besides the two people i sang 'your new boyfriend' obnoxiously at lunch. one was the new girl and the other was a boy i hadnt really talked to. thank you mr. dirty crime boy for allowing me to initate conversatiion for the first time (even if the words were "is that your new boyfriend?)). (that got really off topic.)
> 
> thank you for reading!


	9. Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brunet talks to two familiar-looking anomalies while a server owner looks for them.

“What?” Tubbo asks, surprised at the answer. He almost doesn’t notice the word coming from his mouth.

Well, now that he thinks about it, it makes perfect sense. How else would they get here? They were already whitelisted, which was how they were allowed on the server. And besides, why would two hackers want to enter a server so soon after its creation?

Wait, how-

“-did you travel back in time?” Tubbo asks, genuinely curious.

The pair share a look before ~~Future Tommy~~ Theo begins to answer. “I was struck-”

“Wait, no time!” Tubbo exclaims. “Dream’s on his way! I-”

“-sent him my coordinates,” Toby finishes, an odd look on his face. He doesn’t know how he knew that.

Oh wait — time travel. He’s staring at himself. He remembers this conversation. God, the headache he had was _awful_.

Tubbo nods. “You’ve got to go! I’ll tell him I made a mistake.”

Theo shook his head. “You’re a shit liar. There’s no way he’ll believe you.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Toby and Tubbo ask at the same time.

After a beat, Tubbo gasps. “You could-”

“ _No_.” Toby shuts it down. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“It’s a great idea!” Tubbo protests.

“Wait,” Theo cuts in. “What-”

“They’ll just see us as a threat,” Toby says, ignoring him. “They’ll think we’re dangerous.”

Theo narrows his eyes. _Nobody ignores TommyInnit_ , he thinks, before he opens his mouth-

“What do-”

-and is swiftly ignored.

“Oh,” Tubbo says, head tilted to the side. Though he’s the picture of innocence, Theo knows he’s doing this on purpose. “I guess it would look bad, seeing as they’re already suspicious of you because of the whole ‘hacker’ business.”

Theo narrows his eyes. This is getting _annoying_. “What are-”

Toby nods his head, and Theo considers that maybe the two are having momentary episodes of deafness. “Yeah,” he says. It’s like he can’t see or hear Theo at all. “They’d just think we’re evil or some shit. We should-”

“What the fuck are you dickheads talking about?”

Theo sees the corners of both Toby and Tubbo’s lips twitching upwards in a failed attempt to suppress their smiles.

“I thought that you two should pretend to hold me hostage!”

Theo chokes on air, surprised, giving his wheezing laugh that dissolves into a coughing fit. “What the fuck, Tubbo?”

“It’s a terrible idea,” Toby says. “Even if he was concerned about your life — which he wouldn’t be, because you still have infinite respawns — they’d just think we’re... evil, or some shit.”

A moment of contemplative silence befalls them. Theo sighs, reaching into their chests and trying to find anything of value.

Toby follows his lead and Tubbo stares at them strangely. “What are you guys doing?”

Theo moves some iron ore out of a chest (he’d forgotten to smelt it after the meeting Dream called) into his inventory. “We’re packing up and leaving.”

Toby nods solemnly. “We’re not going to fight _Dream_ . He’s one of the best PvPers _ever_.”

Tubbo stares, baffled. “You’re just going to _leave_ ? You’re not even gonna _try_ to talk to him?”

Theo ignores his hands’ minuscule trembles. “We can’t talk to that — that green bastard.” He swallows hard, almost embarrassed because of the stutter that makes his sentence seem less confident.

Neither are ready to face Dream.

How could Theo look in the eyes of someone who sliced an axe through the neck of his best friend, his other half, and be _calm_?

How could Toby be _civil_ with the man who manipulated and stole the prized possessions of his other half, his best friend?

How could either look in the face of the man who waged war after war, destroying and spilling blood with no hint of remorse?

They couldn’t.

Tubbo looks at the future versions of himself and Tommy, confused. Why wouldn’t they want to talk to Dream?

“Why are you avoiding him?” He asks, desperate to understand.

Toby shakes his head. “You don’t understand.”

Tubbo clenches his fists, annoyed and slightly angry. “Because you won’t _explain_! Why can’t you just tell me? Just because you’re me from the future doesn’t mean I’m a kid!”

Toby shakes his head. If Tubbo was any less angry, he’d recognize the sadness in his eyes. “You wouldn’t like what you’d hear.”

“I don’t care!” He’s aware of how _childish_ he sounds, but he hates being left in the dark. “Why are you afraid of Dream?!”

Theo and Toby’s breaths hitch, both flinching at both the sentence and its volume. Toby can’t meet his younger self’s eyes.

Theo turns back, clenching his jaw. “Let’s go.”

His air holds both an air of finality and pain, and Tubbo can’t bring himself to say something when he sees the hurt in the blond’s eyes.

* * * * *

Dream stumbles through the forest, glancing down at his communicator every once in a while to check the coordinates Tubbo had sent him to make sure he’s on the right track.

He clenches the handle of his netherite axe, clenching his jaw in anticipation. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it.

Tubbo claimed to have spotted the hackers. Dream hopes it’s real — these players are a real pain in the ass.

He raises his axe to effortlessly cut through some branches in his way, trying to think about how the strange players could have possibly entered the private server without him whitelisting them. They _must_ have had some help from the inside.

Maybe Fundy? He suspected the strange player with fox-like attributes due to his coding skills, though would he do something like this? His lack of motivation made him pretty unlikely.

Tommy, on the other hand? Though he didn’t have Fundy’s gift of coding, he was confident and daring enough to bring a random person in. Tommy was charismatic enough to convince someone to sneak into Dream’s SMP.

Dream didn’t know either that well yet, though he was leaning more toward Tommy being the one who brought the two players. From their short interactions alone, Dream could tell how brash and cocky the teenager was.

Even if it _was_ an inside job, Dream still doesn’t know how they’d be able to enter. They weren’t whitelisted, so it _should_ have been impossible to enter the server.

It _was_ impossible for someone to join a server they weren’t whitelisted on.

 _Which meant_ , Dream thought, _they were already whitelisted_.

 _But how?_ Dream slices through more branches, turning around as he noticed he’d walked about 400 blocks past the coordinates Tubbo had sent while lost in thought. _He’d only whitelisted people he’d known_.

His eyes widen as an impossible idea enters his mind. Sure, everyone on the server was... ‘unique’ in some way and had their secrets, but... was it possible?

Could a player be _cloned?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (fehwfbdisle i could have uploaded on the 16th and it would have been cool and shit but then i forgot that i fucking post god dammit-)
> 
> green tellietubby man,,, no
> 
> (i mean, cloning is a surprisingly good theory; all the evidence so far supports it, but... hes just so wrong...)
> 
> so... more talking? technoblade and dream and the two most confusing characters. dream is understandible because he doesn't stream the SMP so we don't get him talking to chat about his plan, but techno?
> 
> i get the anarchy and hatred of governments, but what will he do now? his whole retirement was a cover, but now that l'manburg's gone, what will he do besides making omlettes with puffy?
> 
> speaking of omlettes, what's the egg's deal? sure, it's supposed to give you what you want the most, but why did it make tubbo cry? why is tommy neutral to it when he wants to be safe and have fun? what did the egg say to tubbo? i want answers!
> 
> speaking of answers, is sam nook his own entity, or is it sam pretending for tommy bc he knows hes a child? the second answers cuter and fuels me with serotonin, but if its the first... why hasn't anyone addressed that there's an animal crossing npc in the smp lore? i mean, i know the official dsmp wiki (which i use a lot to fact check stuff) says its an alter ego, but that hasnt been confirmed?
> 
> is sam nook just... god?
> 
> i have so many questions.
> 
> (thank you for coming - i mean listening - to my ted talk)


	10. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A server owner contemplates as two anomalies and a younger brunet panic.

Dream’s first instinct was to brush the thought off as nonsense — the thought of cloning was absurd! — but now that he’d thought about it, he couldn’t get it out of his head.

Cloning  _ would _ make perfect sense — it would explain why no one was at spawn. It would explain their odd names — two players couldn’t have the same nametag. It would explain why they were hiding instead of talking to anyone else.

So... who would clone themself? it could have been anyone on the SMP... maybe Sam or Fundy? Sam was good with redstone while Fundy was good with coding. They were the two obvious (and maybe only) possible people.

Yet, neither felt like they would do something like that.

Sure, they (along with the rest of the members of the server) would probably be crazy enough to clone themselves, but they lacked real motive.

...Tommy and Tubbo were both 16 —  _ children _ . They didn’t have any real motive for most things they did, they just did them because they could. Would they clone themselves?

_ No _ . They wouldn’t know how to do that.

Dream furrows his brows, thinking. Would they?

Well, he doesn’t know much about their intelligence.

...could they clone themselves?

They both seemed pretty quiet at the meeting he called earlier, which was pretty unlike them. They also both seemed pretty unbothered by the thought of two hackers infiltrating the private server.

Dream tries to push the thoughts out of his head (‘ _ they  _ can’t _ have cloned themselves; they couldn’t have figured it out’ _ ) but they linger in the back of his mind. He shakes them off in favour of focusing on the coordinates Tubbo had sent him.

What if this was just a joke? Or a way for Tommy and Tubbo to privately show Dream what they’d done?

_ Well, _ Dream thought as he found the location Tubbo had sent,  _ only one way to find out. _

* * * * *

Theo whipped around at Toby’s exclamation of pain, instantly reaching out for his friend and almost missing how Tubbo does the same.

“Dream’s here,” Toby mutters weakly. He gives a pained gasp. “He’s about to come down the stairs.”

Theo curses colourfully under his breath, looking between the two versions of his best friend. “What are we-?”

“Go,” Tubbo says, voice confident but breath shaky. “Leave, before he sees you guys.”

“What about you?” Theo asks.

Tubbo gives him a reassuring smile.

(Theo hates how much it reminds him of the smile Toby had given him right before Dream killed him.)

“I’ll just tell him I made a mistake and thought I saw some glitched name tags,” Tubbo says. “Besides,” his tone is joking, “what is he going to do? Kill me?”

It’s supposed to be a joke. It’s obvious that it fills Theo with dread, seeing as the playful smile falls off Tubbo’s face when he looks at him.

“Wait,” Toby says as Theo hefts him up, supporting his weight. “There’s... there’s no other exit.”

Theo looks at him strangely. “What do you mean? We have all those... tunnels...” realization dawns on his face.

“That we... haven’t built yet.” Toby finishes. “Because... we’re in the  _ past _ .”

“Shit,” Theo swears softly. “ _ Shit. _ What are we going to do?”

They’re silent for a moment before Tubbo gasps. “How did I not think of that before!”

Theo and Toby’s gaze snap to him. “What?” Theo asks, impatient.

“Log out!”

* * * * *

When Dream enters the ravine, he finds Tubbo on the stone floor clutching his head. He almost doesn’t notice his communicator buzzing.

The hackers that Tubbo claimed to be there  _ aren’t _ there.

“Tubbo?” Dream asks, kneeling over the brunet. “Are you okay?”

The boy winces — probably at the volume of Dream’s words. He nods weakly.

“What happened?” Dream presses, pulling up Tubbo with ease. “Are you okay? Where are the hackers?”

“I’m fine,” Tubbo waved off, though his jaw was still clenched with apparent pain. “Just a really intense headache.”

“What happened?”

Tubbo bites the inside of his cheek. Dream doesn’t see his apprehension. “I found the hackers, but when I came down the stairs, I got a headache.”

Tubbo’s relieved that his voice comes out evenly.  _ Technically _ , that was the truth — he just omitted some details.

“They logged out before I could properly see them.”

Also somewhat true; Tubbo wasn’t able to see how much he and Tommy would change in the future due to the intense headache he’d gotten. Sure, he’d  _ seen _ them, but he wasn’t able to  _ see _ them.

...did that make sense?

Dream exhaled. Tubbo could tell that his brows were slightly furrowed under the mask. “At least you’re okay,” Dream said.

Tubbo nodded, the tension seeping from his shoulders as he realized that Dream wasn’t suspicious of him.

“So,” Dream said calmly, one hand supporting Tubbo’s weight while the other pushed his smiley face mask to the side, allowing Tubbo to see his eyes. “What’s the connection between you and the... ‘hackers’?”

* * * * *

Theo opened his eyes with a wide smile on his face.

He and Toby were in the Bedwars lobby — a place he hadn’t seen in a while.

When was the last time he’d played Bedwars?

When was the last time he’d played Bedwars with  _ Toby _ ?

Theo shakes these thoughts off, entering the doubles lobby.

His lips twitched upwards in a grin as he watched the countdown.

With a final nod to Toby, the game began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yeah, logging out? they can do that...
> 
> thank you to everyone who answered my little word vomit paragraph at the end of the last chapter!
> 
> okay i know that sam nook is not god... but its never been cannonically confirmed or deconfirmed. it could be true. you never know.
> 
> also how did you discover the dsmp? bc i found it through sadist's first animatic — ive actually been subscribed to her for a while bc i liked her hollow knight animatics — hollow knight's my favorite game.
> 
> okay non-sequitar (i love that word so much, when ive reread this ive had to cut it out so many times), but i hate that one person could say something off handedly and itll be cannon to the smp. like, fundy's wilbur's child??? you could say hybrids age faster, but then how old would phil — who is already so incredibly old (thats a joke; i love you mr. minecraft) — be? what about ranboo? techno???
> 
> if techno and wil are twins... how?
> 
> why does the hybrid aging thing only apply to fundy? whats special about him?
> 
> also how tf did he come out of a fish pussy? why is sally the only character that isnt played by a streamer/youtuber?
> 
> why is wilbur the only one whose interacted with sally? why hasnt fundy met his mother???
> 
> how fast does fundy age compared to everyone else? eventually he'll pass wilbur, and that's weird.
> 
> but thats assuming fundy ages faster... if he ages normally, then,,, wil was like 3 when he had him.
> 
> wait... are techno and wil cannonically 21 or 24? bc is theyre cannoncially 21 then...
> 
> fundy's wilburs age. how does that work???
> 
> how old is sally??? what happened to her???
> 
> is she actually a fish? is she a hybrid too? why did she give birth to a fox?
> 
> WHY IS NO ONE IN THE SMP CONCERNED ABT THIS??? a fish and a human gave birth to a fox. thats... genetically impossible.
> 
> is fundy adopted??? where did wil pick up this child????
> 
> assuming fundy is sallys biological child and wilbur adopted him, who is fundys biological dad?
> 
> it could literally be anyone. it could be dream (which is weird to think about...). it could be ranboo (which is even weirder to think about... and also genetically impossible — he's an enderman-
> 
> im gonna cut that train of thought before it begins.)
> 
> whats also weird? ill accept that wil and tommy can from a samsung refridgerator, but,,, minecraft doesnt have fridges.
> 
> how...?
> 
> why has the fandom accepted that phils cannon wife is a fridge?
> 
> does kristen not cannonically exist? or is she the fridge?
> 
> also, is... hybridism (?) a trait that can be given, like freckles or eye colors? or is it like, race, which goes through bloodlines?
> 
> another non-sequiar (im not letting myself using that in the actually chapters, so im using it as much as i can), tommy in prison pog?
> 
> whats gonna happen? im publishing this after his storytime stream ended (literally; he just hosted blocksssssss), and he just explained that dreams been busy so we've been missing the (manipulation) 7-day sleepover party. is it gonna get pushed back a week so we can see what happened? is tommy just gonna walk out of there acting a bit different — a bit more traumatized? or is he just not streaming it bc seeing two people in a small enclosed space may get boring?
> 
> thank you to coming to my ted talk, and may sam nook be with you.
> 
> (can i make sam nook a religious entity? i mean, pastafarianism is popular in my school (literally dont ask, i dont have to braincells to explain why it got brought up in a discussion or why its so funny to me and my classmates), but could we just make a sam nook cult?
> 
> how easy is making a religion? i mean, church prime was literally them reading twitchs tos on stream and then building it and it was just a big twitch prime advertisement.
> 
> and what would we call it?)
> 
> (also sorry like half the chapter is my word vomit)
> 
> edit: 3.1.2021 - i guess i spoke too soon abt the prison thing.


	11. Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two anomalies play as a brunet and a server owner converse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alt summary: theo and toby curbstomp eight-year-olds in bedwars, serendipity is lonely and not having a good time, and tubbo tries to answer dream with a straight face without laughing abt how he looks like a tellietubby

Toby can’t help the smirk that grows on his face when he and Theo spawn on their Bedwars island, instantly gripping the handle of the wooden sword that he spawned with.

He knows that this will be easy.

Without a word passing between the duo — only a few glances that wouldn’t make sense to anyone besides each other — and suddenly they’re standing on a floating bridge made solely of pink wool, their bed also covered in a layer of it. They were halfway to the grey team’s base.

The grey team, who had no idea what was coming.

* * * * *

Serendipity, despite only being 45 seconds into their bedwars game, was not having a good time.

Their teammate had instantly disconnected and was likely not going to join back. Though they would usually play with one of their friends, they were all tired of quickly dying in Bedwars and were building cosy homes on their small SMP.

Then, just as Serendipity covered their bed in a layer of wood and wool, they were attacked.

Serendipity considers themself to be pretty okay at Bedwars — though definitely not good enough to win a doubles game by themself. They’re also pretty smart, so they knew that running from this situation would be the best call.

Unfortunately, the Airship map’s islands don’t have ways to escape. At all.

The only way Serendipity could _possibly_ escape is if they managed to loop around and use the bridge their attackers used to get to them — but the island doesn’t have a back.

No escape.

The brunet seems to cut through their bed’s defences like butter while Serendipity and the blond exchange hits. The message alerting them that their bed was gone pops up in the bottom left corner of their vision, but they’re too busy trying to fend off the blond’s vicious attacks to pay too much attention to it.

The brunet — now done destroying Serendipity’s bed — joined the fray, wooden sword missing the side of Serendipity’s head by mere millimetres and only nicking their ear.

Normally, it would be easy for Serendipity to duck between their attackers and run to the bridge — PvP was made for 1v1s; people didn’t have this level of synchrony when they fought with each other.

Their attackers — the pink team — were not normal.

They fought together like it was second nature, effortlessly dodging through their (admittedly) lackluster attacks.

The only reason Serendipity feels that they lasted more than a few seconds was because the pair weren’t putting in their full effort.

Serendipity couldn’t will up anger after they died, simply floating over the center of the map completely still. _Just who were these two?_

  
  


* * * * *

They won. With ease, in fact.

They did it again, and again, and again.

It was actually getting so boring that they decided to add a few challenges — only using wooden pickaxes as weapons or only moving via bridge eggs, to name some.

Even then, it was just so _boring_.

Theo had never thought that Bedwars would get too easy and boring. Before the SMP ~~(and all the wars and fighting and death)~~ he wasn’t that good at PVP — he was decent enough to hold his own in a fight, but most times he’d lose in the end.

Now ~~(after all the wars and fighting and death)~~ , he’d become better — through experience and friendly sparring and last-minute preparations for a war. Sometimes they were fun, sometimes they were to pass the time, and ~~most times~~ sometimes they were simply so he could improve.

But... the problem was, they were just too good.

Not to sound pretentious or anything! But... this was so _boring_ . He and Toby had come to Hypixel to ~~escape Dream~~ have some fun. There was no point if neither were enjoying it.

He was about to suggest going to another server when he saw a familiar face.

Purple eyes meet stormy blue, and a smirk is exchanged between them.

* * * * *

“What?” Tubbo asks, utterly shocked. He involuntarily takes a step away from the man. _How had Dream known that he was connected to the two players?_

Tubbo is suddenly hyper-aware of Dream’s enchanted netherite armour, of the shield strapped to his arm, of the netherite axe he’d been wielding before he’d stored it in his inventory. He swallows, hard.

Tubbo’s not wearing any armour, the boy realizes, and it’s diamond — weak compared to Dream’s enchanted netherite. A few swings from Dream’s axe could end Tubbo’s life.

Which would hurt. A lot, actually.

For some reason, his neck starts to itch at the thought of this and his stomach is hit with a wave of nausea. Tubbo suppressed the urge to scratch at it.

“I know you have something to do with the appearance of these... ‘hackers’.” Dream says. He’s still threatening even as he takes some steak from his hotbar and takes a bite of it between sentences.

“I don’t know exactly _how_ you’re connected with those weird players, but I know you are. You and Tommy,” he adds, as if the younger blond was an afterthought.

Blood drains from Tubbo’s face. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tubbo stammers, cringing right after he finishes his sentence and taking another step away, subconsciously preparing to run. It’s obvious that he’s lying.

The steak in Dream’s hand is replaced by a gleaming axe, blade wickedly sharp.

Tubbo knows that the man is trying to intimidate him. It’s working.

“Tell me, Tubbo,” Dream says, slowly closing the distance between the two, “how did you and Tommy clone yourselves?”

The fear Tubbo had previously felt was replaced by confusion. “What?”

* * * * *

“I can’t believe we met Purpled!” Toby exclaims for what seems like the hundredth time.

Theo rolls his eyes. “I heard you the fucking first time.”

“Yeah, but _still_! What were the chances that we got in the same game?”

“1 in 7.5 trillion?” Theo can’t stop himself from saying. The pair share a grin at the inside joke — one that revolved around a story about Dream, piglins, and some ender pearls that the masked man had made the mistake of telling them earlier in the server’s history.

The duo are sitting on the edge of the Hypixel lobby island, in a tucked-away spot that they’d discovered a while ago. It’s hidden enough that no one can find them that easily — at least, unless they hear their barely concealed voices and laughter.

Right now, they’re okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahahaha oh no so sorry i completely forgot about posting im so sorry guys oops ahahaha my bad
> 
> (looks at 'see you soon' and 'who am i?' nervously) *sweats*
> 
> serendipity wasnt supposed to originally be included, by i realized i only had two options for a perspective so i gave myself a third. serendipity uses they/them pronouns and is just here to have fun.
> 
> dream, being super intimidating: tubbo how did you and tommy clone yourselves?  
> tubbo, who is really fucking confused and has no idea what the fuck this man is talking about:
> 
> im sorry i know that people just eat during roleplay bc thats what theyre supposed to do but the thought of someone cutting themself off mid sentence to shove some food in their mouth while everyone just watches with no complaints is just so funny to me.
> 
> dream: tommy youve-  
> *starts shoving food in his mouth really fast for no fucking reason*  
> *everyone watches and waits for him to finish*  
> dream: fucked up for the last time!  
> tommy: *intimidated*
> 
> jokes aside, sorry this took so long! the next chapters should come faster than this one bc ive already started writing thirteen. im just looking over twelve (which is another interlude because dramatic cliffhanger) before i post it.

**Author's Note:**

> uhh this is my first work on ao3 (im usually too scared to publish what i write) so i hope you enjoy! (also please give me criticism so i know where to improve)
> 
> ill probably add more tags as this goes on


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